Physical and engineering properties of urea briquettes relevant to design of ICAR-NRRI urea briquette applicator

Abstract

Fertilizer deep placement technology is one of the effective measures to levitate fertilizer use efficiency. The physical and engineering properties of urea briquettes were studied for designing the urea briquette applicator. Metering mechanism is considered to be the heart of developed urea briquette applicator to place the urea briquettes at recommended dosage. The diameter of cup and cup depth were decided based on the maximum length and thickness of urea briquette. The mean length, breadth and thickness of urea briquettes were found to be 16.59 mm, 14.54 mm and 9.30 mm, respectively. The mean size and sphericity of urea briquettes were found 13.10 mm and 0.79, respectively. The angle of repose of urea briquettes was found as 33.6˚. The average bulk density of urea briquette was found as 0.78 g cc-1.